Brook Lopez leads Stanford past Marquette

Brook Lopez scored 28 of his 30 points in the second half and overtime and his twin brother Robin added 18 to lead the third-seeded Cardinal to an 82-81 overtime win over sixth-seeded Marquette in South Regional second-round action Saturday.

Brook Lopez scored eight points in the extra session, including a leaner from the right of the lane with 1.3 seconds remaining to clinch the victory for Stanford (28-7), which will play the winner of Sunday's battle between Texas and Miami in the regional semifinals.

Stanford coach Trent Johnson was ejected with 3:36 to play in the first half and his team trailing, 25-24. Johnson was assessed a technical foul for arguing a call, and received a second when he came onto the court to argue the call further.

Assistant coach Doug Oliver took over for Johnson and pushed all the right buttons down the stretch with the help of point guard Mitch Johnson, who dished out 15 assists while committing just one turnover.

The extra session came down to a battle between Brook Lopez and Golden Eagles guard Jerel McNeal, who buried three 3-pointers in overtime and finished with 30 points. The Cardinal responded to McNeal's 3-point barrage by feeding the 7-0 sophomore on the inside, and he did not disappoint.

With Brook Lopez battling foul trouble for most of the opening half, Robin Lopez led the way with 10 points in the first 20 minutes to keep Stanford in the game.

When Oliver took over for the departed Johnson, the Golden Eagles (25-10) immediately ripped off a 14-1 run to push their lead to 36-25 with 1:36 before the break, but the Cardinal recovered to score the final five points of the period to go into the break trailing 36-30.

The Lopez brothers took over at the start of the second half, scoring 13 of the first 16 points before Anthony Goods completed the comeback with a 3-pointer that knotted the score at 49-49 with 13:47 to play.

Goods' shot was part of a 15-4 run that saw Stanford forge a 57-51 lead with 9:21 to play.

But when the Lopez brothers went to the bench following the surge, the Golden Eagles took advantage. Wesley Matthews and Jerel McNeal combined for seven unanswered points to spark a 14-2 run that put Marquette back on top, 65-59, with 6:03 remaining.

Brook Lopez came back into the contest and scored 10 of the next 14 points, and Robin Lopez split a pair of free throws with nine seconds left to knot the contest at 71-71 and force overtime.

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